The present invention relates to a microwave oven which further functions as an electric heating oven through the use of a heater arrangement disposed within an oven cavity.
When electric heating cooking is desired to be performed by a microwave oven through the use of a heater arrangement disposed within an oven cavity, it is of great importance to maintain the interior of the oven cavity at a high temperature and to protect assemblies disposed around the oven cavity from the high temperature.
An air flow should be introduced into the oven cavity during microwave heating cooking in order to discharge vapor or smoke from the oven cavity. This smoke is unavoidably produced during the cook operation and disturbs effective microwave heating. However, the air flow should not be introduced into the oven cavity during the electric heating cooking in order to maintain the interior of the oven cavity at a high temperature.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a microwave oven which further functions as an electric heating oven.
Another object of the present invention is to maintain the interior of an oven cavity at a high temperature when cooking by use of electric heating is performed.
Still another object of the present invention is to maintain the exterior of the oven cavity at a low temperature even when cooking by use of electric heating cooking is performed.
Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
To achieve the above objects, pursuant to an embodiment of the present invention, a heat insulating wall or an athermanous wall made of, for example, glass wool, is provided in such a manner as to surround an oven cavity. A forced air flow creating means including a blower is associated with a damper means so that a magnetron is cooled and the air flow is introduced into the interior of the oven cavity during microwave heating cooking, whereas the exterior of the oven cavity is cooled and the air flow is not introduced into the interior of the oven cavity during electric heating cooking.